Guardian
by Miss M Cricket
Summary: Guardian!Verse. When John Grimm saved a young boy and took him under his wing, he put it down to a chance encounter. But perhaps there is no such thing as chance, and this is just Fates way of telling him so... Eventual Reaper!Bones/Jim Kirk
1. Guardian Angel

Title: Guardian Angel  
Author: **miss_m_cricket** on LJ  
Fandom: Star Trek Reboot! / Doom Crossover.  
Rating: PG-13 for now  
Pairing: will be Reaper!McCoy/James T. Kirk  
Disclaimer: Own neither Doom, nor Star Trek.

Summary: _Despite the complete illogic of it, a Wanted fugitive was fond of the stray waif he had picked up on the street..._

A/N: A new epic series of Reaper!Bones from me! This is the _Guardian!Verse_ Hope you all enjoy! Special mentions go out to **mysterysquid** for always listening to me ramble on about my fics. And also **inell** for a prompt she gave me a long while ago.

**Guardian Angel **

_"Reaper of enemies; strong of grip; One kind with his fathers."  
- Taliesin _

He woke to the sound of a child crying.

After years living as a hunted man any sound, no matter how small, could be enough to jerk John Grimm from light, motionless sleep to alert readiness, gun trained on whatever it was that had disturbed him. The whisper of cloth on stone, the faintest pad of foot on dirt, the faintest shift in breathing, it was what kept him alive, and it was also what made him such a brilliant and lethal enemy.

He was up in a flash, moving with silence and cat like grace as he slunk forward to peer through the grimy glass out into the small mud and snow alleyway beyond. A small boy was pressed up against the stone wall of the house opposite, trying to melt through the stone as three men converged on him.

Wide terrified eyes that were a bright blue flicked from face to face to face, before looking away, meeting hazel green through the glass, through the mud, through the dirt. The boy's mouth opened but John lifted a finger to his lips.

_Shhhh_

He didn't consider not helping, like most sane people would in his situation. A wanted man did not draw attention to himself by killing three men for no good reason. Only John did have a reason, an important one. He liked kids, and thirty odd years of on-the-run living hadn't made him lose that humanity. Not like most men.

Crouching he stole to the doorway out into the freezing alleyway. Best to deal with this silently or he would have a thousand UAC rent-a-cop's down on his head in a matter of minutes. Bastards would never leave him alone, not unless he utterly destroyed them, or they destroyed him.

Sneaking up behind the three men he gave the frightened kid a small wink before he lashed out, striking with almost obscene speed and accuracy. One broken neck, one pierced brain and one shattered skull and it happened in almost complete silence.

Dropping the last body with some distaste, the tall ex-marine crouched, hazel green eyes considering the scrap of a boy before him. The kid was six or so, fair haired with large blue eyes, pretty enough to catch attention, which was probably what the men had wanted with him. Perverts, but this wasn't a pleasant world they were living in.

"Didn't your mama ever teach you not to go down dark alleyways on your own, kid?" John rumbled, pushing strands of too long hair out of his eyes, "You would have been in trouble if I hadn't been here."

The kid nodded, hand coming up to cover his mouth. "Daddy told me." He said solemnly, "Mama said it was safe with her."

John's eyebrow arched and he stood to move a little ways down the alley and around the corner. There he found a dead body of a woman, face down in the snow and mud. No struggle.

He could guess what had happened here and he would have spat his disgust at the stone wall beside him only he doubted it would make any kind of difference to this bitch on the ground. She was dead and that wasn't going to change anytime soon. He knew some people were desperate for money, knew that some people were suffering from the radiation from the nuclear attacks much more than he was.

Didn't mean he liked the idea of selling kids.

The ex-marine moved back down the alley to the kid and eyed him wearily. Now what was he going to do? Now that he had collected this little bit of fluff from the side of the road, what was he going to do with it?

"What's your name kid?" he said a little gruffly.

"Edward," the boy replies, looking up at John like he is God, "Edward Kirk."

~*~

"I know who you are." Edward mumbled sleepily against John's shoulder a few hours later as they moved through the night. The fair head was pillowed against his shoulder, the soft strands tickling the former marine's sensitive neck.

"Shhhh." John breathed, shifting the kid so that he settled more comfortably against his hip as the man ran through the trees on the outskirts of the almost completely ruined city.

His weapon, big and menacing was held in one hand, cocked and ready as he ran. If his former squad mates could see him now, from wherever they were, he was sure they were laughing at the sight he made. Big ass gun in one hand, innocent, angel faced kid in the other.

"I know…" the kid was persistent that was for sure. "Know you."

"You don't know me Kid." The words echo through him, he has said them before. "You don't know me."

"Know you better than the Television does."

"Oh?" John scowled a little, knowing what was coming and hating it, "What does the TV say about me kid?"

"Bad man." Edward's voice is soft, he is almost completely asleep. "Monster. Don't be bad or the Reaper will get you…" the voice trailed off into sleep.

"I know kid." John Grimm said, sighing softly, "I know."

~*~

Things don't quite go as he planned.

Originally he had planned to leave Edward with Sam and Jacob, let them figure out what to do with him. He knew his sister would look after the boy and that he would be safe if he left him there. The problem however was that Edward did not want to stay with Sam and her husband.

"Go with you." The kid insisted stubbornly, little chubby arms folded across his chest. "I know you."

"Look kid, you remember those stories your Mama used to tell you about the Reaper?"

"Not true."

"No that's just it. Goddammit."

"John!" His sister snapped from the other room and he winced guiltily,

"Sorry." he called and then turned back to the earnest little face looking up at him. "Those stories that your Mama told you were true Edward."

"You saved me."

"Yes but I-"

"So the stories can't be true."

"But see-"

"I go with you."

"No you-"

"You can't leave me." Edward nodded firmly, turning and walking out into the kitchen to talk to his Aunt Sam.

And that was it, Reaper couldn't leave Edward Kirk, and truthfully, he didn't really want to. Despite the complete illogic of it, a Wanted fugitive was fond of the stray waif he had picked up on the street.

~*~

In the end it had to be a compromise.

"You have to get a little older yet." John reassured the young boy, standing on the front steps of his sisters Nevada home, "You might know me Edward, but most people believe that the Reaper is a bad man, a monster."

Edward nodded, his little face solemn. "They want to hurt you. You won't let them will you?"

"No, I won't let them." God talking to kids was so hard. They cut right through the bullshit and sometimes they just seemed more in tune with the world than him and the other mixed up adult people.

"Promise?"

"I'll be back as soon as I can. That I can promise you Edward." Blue eyes blinked at him and the little fair head nodded, fingers curled in his mouth.

"'Kay."

He didn't look back when he left, he never could look back when he left his sister. Before he had never known how long it would be before he could return. Sam had Jacob and her grown son and daughter. She didn't need her brother as often as she used to.

But Edward needed him, and so he would be back soon.

~*~

John visited as often as he could over the next few years.

It was dangerous, so horribly dangerous. He knew that, and so did Sam and Jacob, but they never asked him to stay away and it was worth it to see Edward's face light up and see the boy race over to him.

"John!"

That was not to say that the danger didn't make itself known, John knew that every second he lingered in the comfy home in Nevada he brought his enemies closer to falling down on his sisters head. It pained him to be such a burden on his twin, his only blood kin, but there was nothing for it.

The problem with Edward was that he was exceptionally bright. And not just in the bookish type learning way bright either. No he was intelligent and that made him a dangerous little package in John's life. It was only a matter of time before Edward would find out about John's special 'Gift'.

In the end the Question would be, how would Edward handle it?

~*~

They were running, John racing through the underbrush, carrying the warm body of his young friend, fleeing the rattling gunfire behind them. Edward was trembling against his chest, heart beating faster and faster even though it was John doing the running.

Then there was a chatter of bullets and John grunted, feeling red hot pain blaze through his back.

Crumpling to the ground John muffled Edward's sobs of fear, holding the boy safe against him as the footsteps came over towards them. Bright blue eyes blinked at the smiling green hazel ones.

"You're not dead."

"No."

The footsteps stopped right beside John and the ex-marine stilled for a moment before lunging up with a great snarl and sending the shocked UAC soldier flying. The man was dead before he hit the ground and John grabbed the weapon in his hands before retrieving Edward.

Once again they fled, but this time Edward was quiet, thoughtful.

It scared the shit out of him.

"Like an angel." Edward murmured, resting his head against John's shoulder. "Like a Guardian Angel."

And no matter how much John muttered, Edward wouldn't change his mind.


	2. Pain Is Knowledge

Title: Pain is Knowledge  
Author: **miss_m_cricket** on LJ  
Fandom: Star Trek Reboot! / Doom Crossover.  
Verse: Guardian!Verse  
Rating: PG-13 for now  
Pairing: will be Reaper!McCoy/James T. Kirk  
Disclaimer: Own neither Doom, nor Star Trek.  
Prompt: **inell**'s prompt which asked for this scene with Reaper and Sam.

Once again thank you to **mysterysquid** for his amazing beta'ing and listening skillz.

Summary: _Many people have theorised over the connection between twins, attributing many things to a depth of bond that cannot be measured by scientists in their sterilised labs...._

**Pain is Knowledge**

_"Here, freed of the Grim Reaper's scythe, we learn that pain is knowledge and all knowledge pain."  
- Frederico Fellini _

She was dying.

Edward sat by her bedside, the bedside of the woman who over the last fifteen years had been like a mother to him. She had been the one to listen to him when he came home from school, the one to bandage up his injuries, the one who listened to him when he sighed about the girls in his classes at school.

And now, she wasn't going to be there anymore.

Jacob had passed away three years ago, in an accident involving a house search for the elusive criminal Reaper and a trigger happy soldier, who had shot first and asked questions later. Samantha had not really recovered from her husband's death, retreating into herself, and it had been unsurprising when her health began to deteriorate as well.

Now she was dying.

And Edward was afraid.

What would happen when Sam died? What would happen to the house, the horses, and him? What would become of them all?

The door swung open.

Edward spun around on his chair, wide blue eyes taking in the sight of a man standing tall in the doorway, hair saturated by the rain pouring down outside. He was dressed from top to toe in black, well worn combat gear and carrying a gun that looked like it could do some real damage. Someone else might have been afraid of this figure; anyone else might have cried aloud for help or dived for the small hand held weapon hidden in the bedside drawer.

Not Edward. He lunged out of his chair, launching himself at the tall dark haired man, not attacking but clinging to him with all the strength he had. And the man, putting down his weapon, hugged him back, stroking his back soothingly.

Wrapped up in strong, warm arms, Edward let himself relax for the first time since Sam had been unable to get out of bed one morning three days ago. Held tightly by the man before him, he didn't feel like the young adult he was, but like the six year old boy he had been when this man had first rescued him.

"John…I knew you would come."

~*~

Many people have theorised over the connection between twins, attributing many things to a depth of bond that cannot be measured by scientists in their sterilised labs.

Somehow John had known, tramping through the forests in the North of the former United States of America, somehow he had felt it.

His twin was dying.

There were distinct advantages to being close to invincible, John had thought to himself with bitter amusement less than an hour later, dodging heavy gunfire to steal one of the fancy new hover bikes, and speed down the road leading away from the UAC bastards chasing him, and towards the two people who meant the world to him.

Now he was here, having ditched the hover bike a days' ride away from his sister's house. Superhuman she had once called him, and this was true: superfit, superfast, he had raced across the ground covering the distance more quickly than any normal human.

It would take them a while to find him.

Long enough to say goodbye to the one of the two people who truly knew him, knew John Grimm. Knew John and not the Reaper of the horror stories that UAC made the media bastards report.

Edward was in his bedroom, sleeping. John had checked on him a little while ago, had brushed the longish fair hair away from the closed blue eyes before padding out of the room.

Walking into the bedroom in which his sister lay was hard. He was a soldier dammit and if there was one thing soldiers feared it was the slow death of disease or old age overtaking you. But in he walked, because some things were more important than fear. Sam was more important than fear.

Slowly her eyes, more green in their hazel depths than his, opened and focused on him. The tired smile that warmed her face made his heart ache and slowly he knelt by her side, resting his head against the bedclothes.

"I can't do this without you Sam."

"Sure you can." She breathed tiredly, fragile hand covered by paper thin skin brushing over the thick dark hair. "My little brother."

"It was not supposed to be like this." John mumbled into the blankets, voice choked up by the treacherous tears burning the back of his throat. "We were born the same day, ten minutes apart. You have been here every minute of my life, even when we weren't talking. I knew you were somewhere out there. But you are leaving me, and I will linger on here in this world we monsters have created, to see us destroy ourselves with our greed, until something blows me apart so thoroughly this mutation cannot piece me back together again."

"No..." Sam breathed, fingers carding his hair gently, "It wasn't supposed to be like this. Perhaps I was selfish John, injecting you with the C24. I couldn't bear the thought of being alone in that hell but I also think that there was no other choice. You were dying, just as I am dying now. And anything I could do to save you, I would have done."

"I would save you." John murmured huskily, "If I could, I would save you."

"I know John. I know."

"Edward...I'll look after him."

"I know you will. He worships you, even after all these years, and knowing all about genetics he still sees you as a Guardian Angel sent from heaven above."

"More like a demon from hell, risen from below. I am the Reaper remember."

His sister snorted, and he felt his mouth curve into a small watery smile.

"You are a good man John Grimm. Which reminds me, I have something for you."

He lifted his head and raised one dark eyebrow.

"Over in the drawer over there, the small box with the gold angel on the top." John got up and retrieved it, brown eyes looking at his sister curiously. "It is for you, for the day that you find that someone who makes your blood sing."

Curiously he opened the box and his fingers reached in to pluck out a single plastic vial. He didn't need to read the label to know what was contained in it, and he dropped it as though his fingers had been burnt.

"C24! What the fuck Sam?"

"I had it in my pocket when we returned from down below."

"Do you know how dangerous this is?" John's voice rumbled dangerously in his chest and the hazel green eyes flashed, "What if it had been discovered, you would have given them everything they needed to continue the experiment."

"I kept it for you."

"Christ Sam, I'm already infected I don't need another dose!"

"One day, you will find someone to love John. Now don't you go interrupting me." She scowled at him as his mouth opened to protest her assumption. "I don't want you to use the C-24 in your genes as an excuse not to love them with all your heart. Someday you will find someone, and I want you to be able to have them for all your long lives together."

"Sam..."

"Promise me John."

"What?" the young man looked up into the time ravaged face of his sister and then away, "Sam..."

"Promise me! Promise me that when you find her, or him, you will give them the chance to love you. Promise me that you won't lock yourself away so that the world cannot hurt you anymore. Promise me that you won't ever stop loving people, no matter how bad things get, or how long it takes."

"Why are you asking me for this..." he begged, feeling trapped by the green depths of her hazel eyes.

"Because I know you John. You are my brother. I know you."

The words she had spoken on Olduvai, the words that had held him like a shining silver cord to his sanity and his body. _I know you_. He didn't hesitate any longer.

"I promise."

She smiled at him, closing her eyes. "Thank you John."

There was silence for a long moment.

"You had this, all these years." John murmured, picking up the vial slowly, "Sam, why didn't you use it on yourself?"

"Oh John." She smiled at him before closing her eyes once more, "I loved my life. And I wanted you to love yours."

They both stayed silent for a long time, John's thumb gently stroking over the back of her hand, feeling her pulse beating against the pads of his fingers. In his chest his heart beat in time with hers, and his breaths went in and out as hers did.

In and out...

In and out...

In...and out...

Out...

Out...

Her chest didn't rise again, the pulse gone from against his fingers.

"Sammy..." his voice broke, and one of Earth's most wanted men, one of the horror stories of their generation pressed his face into the coverlets, covering his sister's side, and sobbed his heart out.


	3. Gate to Life

iTitle: Gate to Life  
Author: **miss_m_cricket** on LJ  
Fandom: Star Trek Reboot! / Doom Crossover.  
Verse: Guardian!Verse  
Rating: R for now  
Pairing: will be Reaper!McCoy/James T. Kirk  
Disclaimer: Own neither Doom, nor Star Trek.  
Prompt: **inell**'s prompt which spawned this monster in my head

Once again thank you to **mysterysquid** for his amazing beta'ing and listening skillz.

Summary: _It never ceased to amuse Edward how everyone on the planet thought that the Reaper was a coldblooded monster, when in actual fact John Grimm was one of the warmest people he had ever known, despite everything he had seen and done..._

Guardian Angel | Pain is Knowledge

**Gate to Life**

_"There is but one gate to life. But the entrances to Death are many."  
- Mask of Eternity_

"No."

"But John..."

_"No!"_

They stood on the open front porch of Edward's home in Iowa, two men of complete contrasts. One was as fair as the sun, hair gold, skin fair and eyes that were a bright blue. The other was slightly taller, with scruffy dark brown hair, snapping hazel green eyes and warm olive skin. Both were scowling at each other.

Both had their arms stubbornly crossed.

"I am going to do this. You cannot stop me."

"Oh don't be such an infant. Surely you passed that adolescent rebel stage long ago!"

"Be that as it may, you need me John."

"I don't need you going out and getting yourself fucking killed! Which is exactly what this crack brained scheme of yours will do. No you are going to stay here, meet a nice girl, join the Riverside genetics branch at the hospital, hell create your own genetics centre if you have to. But you are _not_ going to join UAC. Do I make myself clear Edward?"

It was a familiar debate, one they had had several hundred times over the last five years since Samantha's death.

"I could help you from inside if I was part of UAC, John! I could help you bring them down. For god's sake, how long have you been running from them?"

"It doesn't..."

"How. Long."

"Fifty years...or thereabouts."

"Fifty ye- For fucks sake John!"

"Watch your mouth kid!"

"Fifty fucking years? Man that's like a lifetime! How much longer do you think it will be before they catch you, huh? How much longer until they don't want you alive more than they just want you gone?"

"I can look after myself!"

"Goddamnit I am trying to help you!"

"I don't need anyone's help!" John roared, "I don't _want_ to be responsible for anyone else I love dying!"

"I won't-"

John held up a hand, face taut with anger.

"Don't say it; don't even think about saying it. You would be in danger and you could very easily die Edward, and I do not want that. I want to see you live a normal life, with a wife and raising a son to be another bull-headed stubborn infant of a Kirk. I am going to be here forever Edward, unless something really kills me. I want to see your children's children."

"But you won't..." Edward said softly, walking over to rest his hand against his mentor's shoulder, "UAC will never give up. They'll hunt you onto the brink of oblivion. I've already lost a mother John. Don't make me lose my Guardian Angel as well."

John looked out at the flat fields of Iowa and sighed, dark head hanging down slowly. "So many times I wanted to die. But then I had to go save a little scrap of boy from three men and look where it got me."

And Edward Kirk smiled, but wisely decided not to comment on his victory.

~*~

"They want you."

"I know they want me, they've wanted me since Sam injected me."

"No, they _really_ want you." Edward walked around the smooth wooden dining table to face the man who leaned against it, "They have hundreds of squads out there looking for you, masses of resources scouring the entire globe. John...the only reason you are still alive is because..."

"They don't want me dead."

"Yes, basically."

There was silence for long moments as John sank down into his seat, rubbing his face and sighing softly. "What ideas have you got..?"

"There is this girl, Lorraine, in the Intel section. We've been seeing each other, for about six months." One hazel green eye looked at the young man, through long fingers, "I'm not using her, I told her about you."

"You WHAT!" John lunged to his feet and in a movement that was too fast to see he had grabbed Edward and slammed him up against the wall, "You did _what_ Edward?!"

"I told her...about you."

With a snarl John let go of the younger man whirling away violently, kicking a chair, which broke under the blow. Edward winced, watching the dark haired man prowl around the room.

"Why, why, why, _why!_" John turned to face his young friend, dark eyes burning in his haunted face, "Why, Edward, why would you tell her? Can't you see that even if she stays loyal to you and doesn't let slip to UAC that you know me. Even then, you have placed her in an inordinately large amount of danger."

"I love her." Edward's voice was soft and it made John pause where he was, "John..."

"I heard you kid."

"She loves me too...she wants to help."

John rubbed his hands over his face and sat down in one of the non-damaged chairs. "My life used to be so simple." He told the palms of his hands.

"Probably more boring too." Edward quipped back.

John rolled his eyes.

~*~

It hurt.

Even knowing that it was necessary, unavoidable, it still hurt.

John stood behind a large oak tree that stood in a grove of such trees in the centre of the park. He had been there since dawn to avoid any security details that would scour the people arriving. If anyone saw him they would shout the alarm, and he couldn't risk that.

Not today.

Edward stood by the archway of soft white roses, tall and handsome, those blue eyes shining with happiness. John couldn't believe that this was the same scrap of humanity he had saved in a snowy, grotty alley way twenty-two years ago. Twenty-two years.

"Oh Sam," he sighed softly, fingers curling around a low branch, "I wish you could be here to see this."

He watched from a distance, far away, as Lorraine Geeves married Edward Kirk. He saw the love on Edward's face mirrored on his young bride's, saw their UAC co-workers and friends gather around them, congratulate them.

Standing there, watching the joy and sunshine from his shadowed place under the grove of trees John wondered if it would not be better to disappear, leave Edward to live out his life, live a normal life. But even as he thought it, he knew he would not.

He was much too selfish to do that.

Standing by the oak tree he watched, and he waited, long hours passing until everyone had left the park, travelling away off home. Long hours until the park was closed, locked up. Only then did he leave the grove of trees, walking over the whispering grass to the place where the wedding had taken place.

There, tucked at the foot of the arch was a pair of white stemmed roses, with a ribbon tucked around their stems. On the ribbon were two names. Samantha and John.

No John wouldn't vanish, wouldn't disappear. Because even though it had hurt, even though staying away had been necessary, Edward had known he was somewhere nearby, known he was watching.

Like the guardian angel he had once named him.

Like his sister.

~*~

"John! You have to come home now!"

"Why?"

"The baby's coming! The baby's coming _now_."

~*~

It never ceased to amuse Edward how everyone on the planet thought that the Reaper was a coldblooded monster, when in actual fact John Grimm was one of the warmest people he had ever known, despite everything he had seen and done.

No one would have expected Reaper to drop everything he was doing and race off from the tip of South America up to Iowa, at the top speed he could.

But that was John Grimm had done.

Just hours after Edward had made the call there was the roaring sound of a hover bike from outside, and the door banged open as John tumbled in, hair filthy and clothes dusty from the road he had travelled.

"Did I-"

"No."

The relief on John's face was a pleasure to see, green hazel eyes warming with happiness. "Excellent." He panted, flopping down in the seat beside Edward. "I hate missing things."

Edward knew how much it hurt John to miss important things in his life, like not being able to officially attend his wedding, not being able to help out, being constantly on the run, trying to protect himself and the Kirk family.

The man really was a guardian angel.

It was still an hour however until Edward heard the unmistakable squall of a baby being born upstairs. John had fallen asleep, slumped in the rickety wooden chair, chin resting against his chest. He startled awake however when the cry resounded, and his wide hazel green eyes blinked at Edward blearily.

"Wassthat..?"

"Yeah."

The midwife came out of the bedroom, and beckoned to Edward who quickly stood up, blocking her view of John. The ex-marine turned his head away, distinctive face hidden as the pair disappeared into the bedroom.

He had to get UAC off his back. Somehow.

He just had to...

"John..."

It was Edward, standing in the hallway, a small bundle held in his arms. Immediately John stood, eyes drawn to the shape of the baby.

"Is that..?"

"Yeah. John? I would like you to meet my son, Samuel Jonathan Kirk."

The delicate little body was placed in his arms and John cradled it awkwardly, looking up at Edward anxiously. Receiving a nod of encouragement the immortal man gently tipped back the blanket covering the little pink face.

It was a surreal moment for John, standing there, cradling a new life in his arms. For so long his existence had revolved around the ending of life. Now here he was, in a way responsible for this new existence on the Earth. It was humbling to say the least.

"He looks like his daddy." He said, voice rough from emotion, handing the little boy back over to Edward. Looking up he saw tears in those bright blue eyes.

Nothing more needed to be said, John knew Edward understood.

~*~

"Grimm here."

"John, its Edward."

"Yeah?"

"We've got 'em."

~*~

"I don't like this." John grumbled for about the hundredth time since he had arrived in Iowa two days ago.

Lorraine and Edward exchanged a fondly exasperated smile but didn't say anything, knowing that there was little they could say to assuage John's anxiety.

This was it; this was their final gambit after all. After this, if they failed, UAC would hunt them down and slaughter them, all three of them and probably little Samuel, now seven years old, too. It was understandable that he would be a little up tight.

They slunk into the UAC complex, using Edward's and Lorraine's ID's and John's superhuman talents to avoid sensors, guards and intricate protection equipment.

"This is one of the main hubs of UAC activity." Lorraine explained softly, "I can upload a virus here, that will wipe out all of their files, everything that they are working on. It will infect every connected computer base, every disk that is inserted into the banks. Every mention of Reaper will be gone from their systems, and without their Intel the entire company will crumble."

"Perfect."

Edward guarded one corridor entrance, while John protected the other. Tense moments went by as Lorraine's fingers tapped on the keys of the import base. John could feel every hair on his body on edge as he waited. It was a race, between UAC discovering them, and between Lorraine Kirk finishing her tasks.

Unfortunately the doors beside John slid open first.

Bullets rattled loudly in the enclosed space as John gunned down the man who had raised his own weapon to point at Lorraine. Alarms started screaming about them, red lights flashing, and suddenly John and Edward had a battle on their hands.

"Lorraine!" Edward yelled, being pushed back by the sheer force of opponents, "Lor!"

"Done!" she yelled back, and as she did the whole room blacked out. John lunged through the darkness, eyes sharper than anyone else's and grabbed Edward and his wife, wrenching them past the stumbling UAC officers, who opened fire on each other.

"Idiots," John growled.

~*~

"I feel like a pincushion." John grumbled, wincing as Lorraine cut open his skin again to retrieve yet another bullet from his body, "You know this whole immortality gig, isn't exactly what they advertise."

"Sit still." Lorraine scolded, jabbing another needle into John's skin, yet another muscle relaxant, "You are worse than Sammy when he scratches his knees."

"This is so not fair." John sulked, but he stayed still.

"So John," Edward hurriedly said, seeing that his wife was preparing to cut into the immortal man once more, "You had any thoughts on what you are going to do with yourself now?"

It hit John then that he was free, free to live his life. UAC would no longer hunt him, people would no longer fear him, he could live, he could love, he could be anything he wanted to be.

"Ow! Fuck woman."

Lorraine smacked him, "Language."

He glowered at her, "Maybe, I'll become a Doctor, partake in the unholy amusement you seem to be having there."

The Kirks chuckled.

But John considered it. It was an intriguing option, and one of which he was sure that his sister, now dead for close to fifteen years, would approve of. Looking through a microscope instead of a sniperscope.

It had potential.

~*~

When you are happy, the years seem to blend into one another like a pleasant dream, slipping through your fingers like fine grains of sand on a beach.

So it was for John Grimm.

UAC had fallen, but he had not yet gone on to study at medical school. Too many people still recognised the Reaper of the media nightmare stories, so he stayed away, near Edward and Lorraine and little Sammy.

He saw Sammy grow up into a fine young man, tall and handsome, dark haired like his mother, but with his bright blue eyes that he could have only gotten from his father.

Every step of the way, John was there, watching out for Sam, and Edward, and helping Lorraine out.

Looking back on those ten years, he realised they were some of the happiest in his life.

~*~

Standing there, smoke rising around him, John could hardly stop the nausea from rising in his throat.

His footsteps crunched softly on the charcoal remains of the building as he wandered through the devastation, dark eyes flickering left and right. The foyer, the hallway, Edward's office, Lorraine's office, the labs, the storerooms. He knew this place like the back of his place, and his slow footsteps marked the paths where those rooms had stood mere hours ago.

UAC's final revenge.

The Reaper Genetics Centre had been Edward's and Lorraine's pride and joy, apart from their son Samuel. They had dedicated themselves to it, to the bettering of mankind through their studies. Now that the wars had ceased and Earth had made a tentative contact with the distant planet Vulcan, it seemed that everyone wanted to put aside their petty conflicts.

But it seemed that UAC had had to have one last stab at vengeance.

They might not have been able to find John Grimm, or reach Samuel Kirk guarded so well by the ex marine, but they had been able to reach Edward and Lorraine.

John stopped by the back door where he knelt down in the ashes beside the two bodies sprawled there.

Blackened, burnt, unrecognisable.

But John knew, and his heart ached with a pain not felt so keenly in the decades since the death of his twin.

His Edward.

Unwillingly his mind produced memories, memories of a small boy with an earnest little face, the trust in those blue eyes absolute, he saw the gangly awkward teenager, the young adult grieving for Sam, the young man getting married, the father with his infant son, the scientist discovering the mysteries of the human genome.

Emergency services arriving on the scene shivered as a long howl of anguish and loss rose from the ruins of the genetics centre, followed by the dull sobbing of a man whose heart has been broken.

~*~

"Uncle John?"

"Yes Sammy."

"Where are Mom and Dad...?"


	4. Haunt My Mind

Title: Haunt My Mind  
Author: **miss_m_cricket** on Livejournal  
Fandom: Star Trek Reboot! / Doom Crossover.  
Verse: Guardian!Verse  
Rating: R for now  
Pairing: will be Reaper!McCoy/James T. Kirk  
Disclaimer: Own neither Doom, nor Star Trek.  
Prompt: **inell**'s prompt which spawned this monster in my head

Once again thank you to **mysterysquid** for his amazing beta'ing and listening skillz.

Summary: _Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years. But for John, nothing really seemed to matter anymore..._

AN: This is just a little filler chapter. Just counting the time down until Leonard meets Jim.

**Haunt My Mind**

_"Late at night, things I thought I put behind me, haunt my mind"  
- Within Temptation _

Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years. But for John, nothing really seemed to matter anymore.

Samuel wasn't Edward, John knew that, and he tried not to hold the young man accountable to the standards set by his father, and the love that he had had for him. However, he did know he was harder on the boy than he perhaps should have been, and that that perhaps was the reason that he and Samuel were never close.

Be that as it may, John stayed nearby, keeping an eye on Edward's son, protecting him if needs be, and watching the lives evolve around him.

Those years slipped past him like a haze, a grieving haze of darkness that threatened to swallow him whole. Until the day that Tiberius fell out of the great oak tree.

* * *

He could hear the soft snuffling of a child crying and the sound carried him back to a snowy alleyway in a rundown city, yanking him out of his grief and back into the sun drenched present.

There underneath the large tree crouched a boy, young and gangling and with thick fair hair and a large pair of blue eyes that were wet with tears. His nose ran, and his mouth wobbled, but John's gaze immediately caught the resemblance, and his heart tightened.

Then he saw the bone piercing the skin of the boys arm.

"Hey there kiddo..." he said, voice soft. He had known that Samuel had a son, but had never seen him. But he knew his name, "You're Tiberius aren't you? There now, don't you cry. My name's John, John Grimm."

And that brought a bright smile to the kids face.

"You're the Angel?" he asked, voice young and piping with a small lisp. "Daddy told me about you! You knew I was hurt!"

It sent John's head spinning. Sam had told his kid about him? Why?

"Sure, kid." He said distractedly, gently moving forward and lifting the child up. "You hold on tight to me with your good arm and I'll get you to the Hospital."

"We gonna fly?" Tiberius asked with all the solemness of youth.

John grumbled softly and started off across the field, picking up pace until it truly did feel like they were flying.

* * *

After that John was around the Kirks much more, spending time with Tiberius and even reconnecting with Samuel to a smaller extent. It made him realise what a fool he had been, and what a life he had missed out on watching, because Samuel was a good man, one his father would have been proud of.

Tiberius soon became the bright centre to John's world, and it kicked him completely out of his black funk and up into the land of the living once more. It was Tiberius that pushed him into medical school under a new name, Leonard McCoy. Tiberius had picked the name, and John hadn't had the heart to refuse it.

* * *

Serious blue eyes peered at him through glasses.

"Leonard be serious."

"How can I be serious when you call me by that name? For god's sake Tiberius I'm old but not that old."

"Leonard sounds distinguished."

"It sounds like I have a giant stick up my ass."

"How many times do we have to have this conversation?"

"Clearly at least one more..."

"You've been using it for ten years."

"I was humouring you; I didn't expect you to start calling me 'Leonard' all the time!"

"Could you possibly live with Len?"

Silence for a brief moment.

"Yeah." Len said gruffly, "I suppose I could live with that..."

* * *

Kirks were bright, Len knew that. But Tiberius pushed that to a whole new level of genius and bookish dedication.

Len watched over him through first High School, then College, then Grad school and then watched with disbelief as he became one of Earth's most revered Diplomats. It made his head spin.

Bourbon helped. Bourbon helped a lot.

* * *

George Leonard Kirk was born in a well lit, expensive hospital. The one where Len worked, and who had, unsurprisingly pulled a few strings at to get the best midwife for Tiberius's lovely wife Sheena.

Naturally, with hospitals being the way they are, it ended up being Len who delivered the baby, easing the squalling boy out and bathing him, before returning him to his glowing parents. But it was in those first moments, when he held the little one, the first person ever to, Leonard knew.

George Kirk was special.

* * *

With Tiberius being so busy, and Sheena following in his shadow, it fell to Len to raise the young George.

It was Leonard who changed his diapers, Leonard who rocked him to sleep and it was Leonard who had taught him to walk.

Although it was hard, working at the Hospital and also taking care of the young boy, Leo found that he was happy for perhaps the first time in a long time. He was living a normal life, as an almost father, providing and contributing to society.

Life was good.

* * *

"Goddammit! What the hell happened?" Leonard exploded one evening as he walked through the front door of his small townhouse. George stood there, shuffling a little, head lowered as blood dripped out of his nose onto the hardwood floor.

"I fell down."

"Yes I can see that," Leo dumped his bag on the kitchen stool and walked over to his young charge, tilting his chin up and examining the bloody nose and black eye, "Mind telling me who helped you fall?"

He got a stubborn jut of chin for a reply.

Sighing he retrieved his supplies and set to work on healing the boy's face, not asking any more questions. George would tell him when he was ready.

* * *

However his zen like state of non pressure was sorely tested as George came home in various states of damage for the next two weeks.

Finally he snapped.

"Right that does it." He said one afternoon, smacking his book shut and causing the boy to jump nervously. "Up!"

George looked confused, "Len...?"

"Get your ass up boyo."

He obeyed and followed his almost-father out into the yard, where they faced off.

"You keep getting your ass whooped in fights." Len said, lifting his hand as George protested, "Shuttup, I know what fighting looks like; I'm a Doctor after all."

"I fell!"

"Yes you did, and someone kicked that scrawny ass of yours bad enough to make you fall. I'm going to change that, since I'm fucking tired of patching you up every night."

"What do you know? You're just a Doctor after all."

"Cut the sass, Captain Sassypants. I'm not the one who comes home battered."

George muttered mutinously but didn't say anything else, as Len waited for him to subside into silence.

"Alright then. Attack me."

"What? No..."

"For god's sake boyo stop your arguing. I know what I'm doing!"

* * *

For the next few weeks Leonard trained George in all manner of self defence. Punching, throws, avoiding attacks...Leonard taught him the basics of it all, and the beatings lessened and then stopped as the bullies realised that George knew how to defend himself.

When they had ceased completely Leonard was surprised when George kept pushing for more lessons, more moves, more training. He hoped that the boy wasn't using it to get revenge but he doubted he was. He figured that the boy just liked fighting, liked knowing that his body knew how to defend itself. Liked being fit and strong.

Leonard could understand it very well. After all he had once been a soldier.

* * *

With Edward, and then Samuel and then Tiberius, Leonard had never really needed to worry about the boys and any lady friends they had. Edward had been too serious about the truth of John Grimm's life and had only had a few casual encounters before marrying Lorraine. He hadn't payed much attention to Samuel, but he knew that Susan had been one of the first if not 'the' first. And Tiberius well, he had just been too wrapped up in his books to notice women before Sheena dragged him out.

Unfortunately George didn't seem to have taken after his ancestors.

The first time Leonard came home to find George necking with some blonde on the couch he had almost choked. And after the embarrassed girl had gone home he had given his young charge The Talk, which made them both cringe internally and externally.

Leonard's fumbling, 'Insert tab A into slot B' analogy had made both of them look at the ceiling in embarrassment.

After that Leonard tried to look the other way as George Kirk led a bevy of beauties through his house over the next five years.

* * *

Leonard didn't attend the funeral of Samuel Jonathan Kirk, even though George did, escorted by his parents.

He couldn't bring himself to go.

But afterwards, when everyone else had left to go to the wake, to talk of Samuel's life and eat consolation biscuits with brie cheese, Leonard entered the graveyard to leave a bunch of flowers on first Edward's, then Lorraine's, then Susan's and finally Samuel's graves.

"I'm sorry." He murmured to Samuel, the words he had never been able to bring himself to say when the man was alive. "I'm sorry I was such a shitty guardian to you."

"He didn't think you were." George's soft voice spoke from behind him, and the warm hand of the young man rested on his shoulder. "I visited him a couple of times, and he told me stories about you that would be unbelievable if it were anyone else. He loved you."

"That makes it even worse," Leonard muttered, "I abandoned him after Edward. Effectively."

"But he told Father and he told me about the Kirk guardian angel." George gave him a hug about the shoulders, "He knew that if he needed you, you would have been there. Like you were when Father fell out of the Oak tree."

"Your grandfather clearly talked too much," Leonard grumbled, touched despite himself.

"C'mon Len." George pulled back and started heading back towards the car, "We can mock the wake to cheer ourselves up."

"You have no respect!" Leonard retorted, getting to his feet and following the young man across the graveyard, "You've been living with me too long."

George just grinned.


End file.
